Tuesday, January 07, 2014

Bean and Cheese Enchiladas with Red Sauce

With a batch of red enchilada sauce in hand, it is time to build an inviting enchilada platter and that involves lots of possibilities. For instance, you can stuff the enchiladas with veggies, serving beans and rice on the side. You can stuff 'em with beans and serve veggies, raw or cooked, on the side. You get to choose the format. Here's how I like making mine: I use a mixture of cheese and beans as the filling for the enchiladas and serve lots of vegetables (and sometimes rice) on the side.

For the tortillas, you can use either corn or wheat tortillas or any of the multigrain, gluten-free versions out there. Trader Joe's has corn-and-wheat tortillas (designed for indecisive cooks, perhaps?) and I love how they work in these enchiladas. They come 8 to a pack and all of them fit in neatly in a 9 x 13 baking dish.

The filling: There's no real recipe for the filling. Just cook pinto or black beans or used canned beans. Into the beans, stir in shredded Monterey Jack cheese or Cheddar cheese. The enchilada sauce has so much flavor that I don't bother adding too much seasoning to the filling. But you could certainly add some cumin, garlic, oregano here if desired.

Just to illustrate how I arrange
the tortillas-
8 of them fit snugly
into the baking dish

Pour some enchilada sauce into a rimmed plate. Dip each tortilla into this sauce to coat it on both sides, then place 1/4 cup of filling in the middle of the tortilla and roll it. I don't bother tucking in the ends; just place the filled tortilla seam side down in the baking dish. If you have larger tortillas, you may need to tuck in the ends.

After all the tortillas are filled and arranged in the baking dish, ladle the rest of the sauce on them. Sprinkle with more shredded cheese. Cover the dish with foil.

Bake at 350 F for 30-40 minutes until the sauce is bubbling.

We love our enchiladas with these three sides:

1. A crisp raw salad: I'll often make shredded green or red cabbage (or a mix) with diced avocados, dressed only with a few drops of hot sauce. Another option: shredded cabbage and carrots with a dressing of mayo and hot sauce. Your favorite salad will do!

2. Roasted vegetables: A large tray of sweet potatoes, peppers, onions, zucchini and summer squash, green beans and whatever's in season (or on sale at the supermarket) works nicely. Sometimes I just make sweet potato fries.

3. Mexican rice. There are many ways to make this. Here's how I made quick tangy cilantro rice this weekend: Cook basmati rice with salt. Just when it is cooked, stir in a handful of minced cilantro, 1 tbsp. nutritional yeast (for flavor), 1 tbsp. olive oil and some lemon or lime juice.

Other than these, a dollop of sour cream or yogurt can be a nice touch and a cooling contrast to the enchiladas.

If I'm serving enchiladas to a crowd, I'll make all 3 sides. If it is for just the family or a smaller group, just 1 or 2 sides is enough.

Continuing with enchilada week here on One Hot Stove, I'll be back tomorrow with some breakfast enchiladas.

16 comments:

Wow! 3 posts in a week! happy me :)I have never eaten enchiladas. Somehow, tortillas covered in sauce seemed too messy to me and I am not sure of the tortilla texture. I liked the crip tortillas in a quesadilla. I should try enchiladas now since I always try out things I never did before, after you mention them :)

I love soggy food- stuff that is dunked in sauces and gravies and curries is always my favorite! But truly, you can make these saucy or not, cook's choice. Enchiladas are worth tasting once in your life :)

I love enchiladas but am never quite sure what to put in them - just checked out your sauce - not sure I have ever bought the stuff but this looks thinner than what I usually make - however I never dip tortillas in it because it always seems too much work but I love this sound of these

Oh enchiladas are great with all kinds of fillings- sweet potato and black beans is another great combination apart from the things I've mentioned in the post. Funny thing is my homemade sauce is a lot thicker than the canned "authentic" enchilada sauces you get here- those are very watery, And yes, feel free to skip the dipping and just pour sauce on top of the filled enchiladas, that works as well. I think you'll enjoy these, Johanna.

I love messy soggy food too! :-) for me it brings lots of comfort. I am so making this! I can't wait to read about your breakfast enchiladas. I think it will be perfect for weekend brunch. I am really enjoying you frequent posts, Thanks for taking the time for us.

Thus is sooooo yummy Nupur!!!! You are so thoughtful and generous to throw a potluck for lila's teachers. You must really love enchiladas to have them at 6 am...now I have to try it, but we will do not dinner.

Hey Nupur, this is a great sauce! I don't like cheesy food much, so try to avoid those while dining out. I have not tried enchilada out, so wanted to try making at home by controlling the amount of cheese:) I made the sauce, homemade tortilla, sauteed green pepper, boiled black beans, corn, and onion for filling. I will be making it again, and also posting it.